The Wonkhe Show

This week on the podcast results of the Teaching Excellence Framework are out - but what do they tell us, and how helpful are they for students? Plus there’s a new report on university staff and skills development and a “new deal” for PGRs has arrived.  With Jonathan Simons, Partner and Head of Education Practice at Public First, Anne-Marie Canning, Chief Executive Officer at The Brilliant Cl...

This week on the podcast we discuss the government’s plans to reduce the stigma and increase support for students who are lonely. Plus Gillian Keegan is urging VCs to just stop just stop oil, the Lifelong Loan Entitlement gets a rebrand and HESA’s making measures on meaningful work more meaningful. With Selena Bolingbroke, Principal at the Building Crafts College, Jonathan Woodhead, Policy Adviser...

This week on the podcast a Lords committee says England’s HE regulator is “arbitrary, overly controlling, and unnecessarily combative. What happens next? Plus we look at what we can learn from two new assessment reports into quality of courses, and there’s a new report on care experienced students. With Smita Jamdar, Partner and Head of Education at Shakespeare Martineau, Richard Brabner, Director...

This week on the podcast we look at three new reports that detail the impact of the cost of living crisis on students. Is there more that universities can do as governments continue to ignore the issue? We also discuss Horizon, research security and foreign policy, and the question of gathering stats on gender-based violence in higher education. Plus hidden history looks at how teacher training tr...

This week on our summer break special Level 3 results are out - does the press coverage bear any relation to what's happening in universities? Plus this year's new and "improved" National Student Survey results are out, and the team looks ahead to the new academic year. With Michael Salmon, News Editor at Wonkhe, David Kernohan, Deputy Editor at Wonkhe, Debbie McVitty, Editor at Wonkhe, Mark Leach...

This week on the podcast there’s new recommendations on campus harassment and sexual misconduct - but is a DfE campaign targeting men the right approach? Plus there’s a new NHS workforce plan to think about, the challenges of AI continue to generate debate, and Richard Brabner pays tribute to Bob Kerslake, who died earlier this week. With Claire Taylor, Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive at Plymo...

This week on the podcast Labour’s plans to turn the apprenticeship levy into a “Growth and Skills Levy” get more detail - but what will it all mean for HE? Plus David Willetts has been looking back at his “eight great technologies”, and the debate over reforms to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) rumbles on. With Shân Wareing, Deputy Vice Chancellor at University of Northampton, Ashley Store...

This week on the podcast the 2023 Student Academic Experience Survey is out, and it finds that more students are in paid employment than ever before. Does that matter? Plus the marking and assessment boycott is picking up pace, and the Lifelong Loan Entitlement has been in the Lords - we wonder where the demand is. With Carole-Anne Upton, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Global Innovation and Impact, Mi...

This week on the podcast the Future Research Assessment Programme (FRAP) has reported - we discuss whether its recommendations will fix the issues that researchers raise. Plus there’s a new report out on awarding gaps, there’s advice on recruiting international students and English studies is in better health than we thought. With Omar Khan, Director at TASO, Sally Burtonshaw, Associate Director E...

This week on the podcast duty of care has been discussed in Parliament - and we examine the implications. Plus there’s media interest in UK from across the pond, we’ve been getting all interdisciplinary and there’s revised guidance out on students as consumers. With Jonathan Grant, Director at Different Angles, India Ellis, President at Lancaster University Students’ Union, David Kernohan, Deputy...

In this special half term episode of the show, Wonkhe's Editor in Chief Mark Leach chats to Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles.  In a wide ranging discussion the pair talk Wales’ new Commission for Tertiary Education and Research, fees funding and finance, the character of regulation and governance in Wales, Miles’ vision for students as citizens and how the new commissio...

This week on the podcast net immigration stats are out - will stopping the dependants of PGT students from getting visas be the end of restrictions? Plus reform for renters in England is causing a headache in the student housing market, and OfS is upping its fees by 20 per cent - whatever happened to value for money? With Chris Skidmore, Net Zero Review Chair and MP for Kingswood, Andy Westwood, P...

This week on the podcast student suicides and a duty of care have been discussed in Parliament - but would such a duty help or hinder in efforts to support students? Plus Cabinet wranglings over immigration policy and international students continue, and we discuss whether the sector should wade in or deftly avoid controversies over issues like student drug use. With Sue Rigby, Vice Chancellor at...

This week on the podcast to mark Eurovision week we have a special episode featuring Bram Van Uden, who’s President of the SU at Twente University in the Netherlands. We chat project-based learning, building belonging and community and what the world’s biggest student case competition on campus says about this fascinating institution. Presented by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe. Hosted...

This week on the podcast Keir Starmer has U-turned over student fees and finance - but what should Labour’s policy be if not free education? Plus support for PGRs is in the news, universities are frantically fundraising in a period of fiscal constraint, and disadvantaged students go on to be lower earning graduates - why?   With Selena Bolingbroke, Director at Sighthound Consultancy, Ben Ward...

This week on the podcast there’s new data on the financial health of universities - we discuss how higher education is coping with inflation and frozen fees. Plus we discover how much students are getting from universities in financial help, universities are leaving the CBI just as soon as people realised they were members, and there’s a new commitment out on improving accessibility for disabled s...

This week on the podcast the Office of the Independent Adjudicator has published its annual report. Should we worry that it’s handled a record number of complaints? Plus the Lords have beeling listening in on an apparent absence of student voice in the Office for Students, and the question of whether quality-related (QR) funding needs a root-and-branch review is in the air. With Anthony Finkelstei...

In our final show before the Easter break, OfS has published the first Equality of Opportunity Risk Register for English HE. But are there some big risks missing? Plus UCAS says we’ll soon have a million applicants, Wales is working towards better mental health and in response to news from Turnitin, plenty of people seem to want to turn it off. With James Purnell, Vice Chancellor at University of...

This week on the podcast there are new numbers out on the size and shape of higher education providers - is the sector growing international PGT too quickly? Plus the robots are coming for our jobs and souls, and we mark neurodiversity celebration week. With Nicola Dandridge, Professor of Practice in Higher Education Policy at University of Bristol, Joseph Cooper, Director of People and Culture at...

This week on the podcast we’re live at our Secret Life of Students event in London where we hear from the Office for Students' Director for Fair Access and Participation John Blake, discuss belonging and community and its relationship to the rest of the student experience, and consider the impact of the cost of living crisis on different groups of students. With Sally Burtonshaw, Associate Directo...

This week on the podcast we’re getting a complete overhaul of student finance in England - but is there enough demand for modules of debt? Plus the government has published its independent review of the research, development and innovation organisational landscape, there’s new polling on the public’s attitude to international students, and we’ve been working out where they’re living. With Marian H...

This week on the podcast 46 per cent of people would only choose to invest more in R&D when the UK economy is in better shape – does the fragility of public support matter? Plus international student visas are up again, and so are dependants, and the Lords have been interrogating universities’ engagement with autocracies. With Martin Jones, Vice Chancellor at Staffordshire University, Jess Lister,...

This week on the podcast the Office for Students has new proposals out on harassment and sexual misconduct – but will they work in the way intended? Plus Tony Blair and William Hague have ideas out on science and technology, there’s a new student living strategy in Nottingham and we explain the reclassification of FE colleges into the public sector. With Paul Greatrix, Registrar at the University...

This week on the podcast Nicola Sturgeon has resigned as leader of the SNP and Scotland’s First Minister - what kind of higher education legacy does she leave? Plus student engagement with their studies may or may not have bounced back, and there’s a call to extend rather than cut the post-study work visa for international students. With Mary Curnock Cook, Chair of the UPP Foundation’s Student Fut...

This week on the podcast the government has published its review of the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy. Are campuses really a breeding ground for extremism? We also discuss this week’s reshuffle and its implications for HE, a new report on graduate outcomes and earnings, and try to understand what’s going on with the government’s short courses trial. With Vivienne Stern, Chief Executive at Uni...